Chapter 23 Already inside
Carlino’s POV
Blind.
That was the word that stayed in my head as the screens went dark. Not attacked. Not threatened. Blind.
The operations room had a handful of people, but the silence made it feel empty. Phones had no signal. Feeds were gone. Every system we trusted had vanished in under thirty seconds.
Someone in the back cursed under their breath.
“Switch to analog,” I said. My voice sounded calm, which helped. “Runners, radios, physical confirmation. Now.”
Chairs scraped. Orders flew. People moved fast because standing still meant thinking — and thinking meant realizing how exposed we were.
Lina stood near the end of the table, arms crossed, watching me instead of the chaos.
“You always look this relaxed during disasters?” she asked.
“Only when it’s planned,” I replied.
Her brow lifted slightly. “This doesn’t feel like your plan.”
“It isn’t,” I said. “But panic never helped anyone win.”
Damien’s voice crackled faintly through a backup shortwave unit someone had dug out of storage. “We’ve got partial contact with the north warehouse team. They’re secure. No visual on the perimeter breach yet.”
“At least something still works,” Lina muttered.
I looked at the dead monitors again. “This wasn't a random disruption,” I said. “This was coordination.”
Damien re-entered the room a minute later, phone useless in his hand. “Emergency lines are jammed. Not just ours — citywide interference in pockets.”
“So they came prepared,” Lina said.
“Yes,” I answered. “Weeks of preparation.”
Maybe months… or years
A guard hurried in. “Don, the outer patrol found signal blockers in the east garden. Professional grade.”
“Military?” Damien asked.
“Close,” the guard said.
Luca let out a quiet breath. “This isn’t a rival family flexing.”
“No,” I agreed. “This is someone who studied us.”
I turned to the table. “Every major move we made in the last six months. I want a list. Deals, disputes, removals.”
A few people hesitated at that last word. “Now,” I added.
They moved.
An hour later, the house had shifted from confusion to controlled emergency. Armed teams moved in pairs. Vehicles were being checked for trackers. Paper maps were spread across the table where screens had failed us.
Lina hadn’t left.
She leaned against the wall, listening, absorbing everything like she had a right to be here.
I should’ve sent her away.
But I didn’t.
Damien came back with a folder — printed records pulled from storage. “There’s one name that keeps popping up,” he said quietly, setting it down in front of me.
I flipped it open.
Old file. Ten years back.
Travien Dwan.
Former capo. Controlled logistics and external routes before… before my father removed him.
“Dwan betrayed the family,” Matteo said carefully.
“He was suspected,” I corrected.
Lina pushed off the wall. “What happened to him?”
“He disappeared,” Damien said.
I didn’t speak.
Because disappearance in our world didn’t usually mean survival.
Lina looked between us. “And he had family?”
I turned the page.
One son.
Age at the time: sixteen.
Name: Kailen Dwan.
I felt something settle into place — not relief, not anger. Recognition.
“Where’s the son now?” Luca asked.
Damien shook his head. “Dropped off records after his father vanished. No activity under his real name.”
“Because he probably changed it,” Lina said.
I met her eyes. “Yes.”
A guard rushed in again. “Don, we picked up a transmission on one of the emergency bands. Encrypted, but… it was meant for us.”
“Play it,” I said.
They set a portable unit on the table. Static filled the room, then a voice cut through.
Male.
Young, but steady.
“You’ve been hard to reach, Carlino.”
The room went still.
I didn’t blink. “Trace—”
“Already tried,” Damien muttered. “Signal’s bouncing.”
The voice continued. “I was starting to think you didn’t want to talk.”
Lina’s eyes flicked to me.
I stepped closer to the radio. “You’ve made quite a mess for someone hiding behind a signal scrambler.”
A soft chuckle came through. “Hiding? No. I just wanted your attention first.”
“You have it,” I said.
“Good,” he replied. “Then we can stop playing in the dark.”
A pause.
“You remember Travien Dwan?”
Silence tightened like a wire.
“I remember many men,” I said evenly.
“He remembered you too,” the voice said. “Right up until the day your family buried him without a grave.”
Ruggero’s jaw clenched.
Lina didn’t move.
“You’re his son,” I said.
Another quiet laugh. “Took you long enough.”
Kailen. Older now. Controlled. Patient.
“You’ve cost me time and money,” I said.
“If this is revenge, you could’ve come with a gun.”
“Guns are loud,” Kailen replied. “I wanted you to feel small first. Helpless. Wondering who’s watching.”
His voice didn’t shake. Didn’t rush.
That told me more than the words did.
“You infiltrated my businesses,” I said. “My staff. My systems.”
“Yes.”
“Impressive.”
“Don’t compliment me,” he said sharply. “You don’t get to respect me now.”
There it was. Emotion. Buried under discipline.
“What do you want?” I asked.
A long pause followed.
Then—
“I want you to lose everything the way he did.”
Not territory. Not money. Everything.
Lina spoke before I could. “You’re not the only one who grew up in someone else’s war,” she said calmly.
My head turned slightly toward her, but I didn’t stop her.
Kailen went quiet for a second. “…Lina,” he said at last, her name low, like it carried a memory he never buried. “Didn’t expect you to be standing here.”
She didn’t flinch. She stood there like a fierce tigress. “Some of us don’t stay where we’re left.”
“You always did have a way of surviving,” He chuckled. “That wasn’t a warning,” he replied. “That was a delay.”
“I stepped in again. “You’ve made your point.”
“No,” Kailen said. “I’ve just started.”
A distant noise came through his end of the transmission — wind, maybe traffic.
“You hit my hotels. My shipments. My systems,” I said. “All distractions.”
“Yes.”
“So what was the real target?”
Silence.
Then—
“You and your family.”
The word landed softly. Deadly. Before I could respond, the signal crackled.
“One more thing,” Kailen added. “You should go home.”
My grip tightened on the edge of the table. “I am home,” I said.
“No,” he replied. “You’re at your command center.”
My blood ran cold. “The estate?” Damien snapped.
Kailen’s voice lowered slightly. “You really should check the west wing.”
The transmission cut. Static filled the room again. Lina was already moving. “That’s my corridor.”
I was past the table before anyone else reacted. “All units to the residence,” I ordered. “Now.”
People scrambled. Weapons grabbed. Radios checked even if they barely worked.
Damien fell into step beside me. “You think it’s real?”
“I think he’s not bluffing,” I said.
We were halfway to the exit when the backup lights flickered overhead.
Once.
Twice.
Then the entire building went dark again. From somewhere deep in the estate grounds, a dull explosion rolled through the air — not massive, but close enough to shake dust from the ceiling.
Lina stopped beside me. Neither of us spoke. Because we both knew. This wasn’t another distraction. This time—
He was already inside.